Carnage: The Division Amongst Us
This was a comic book crossover that began in July 2015, following the events of Lauren Evans' first major panic with the symbiote, Carnage. It follows the events, detailing Lauren's second rampage and the way it effects the city of New York, as well as her relationship with both the superhero community and her boyfriend, David Mercer. Main Characters * Lauren Evans * Lex Luthor * Zachary Stone * Zatanna Zatara * David Mercer Synopsis After Lauren had given a piece of her symbiote to Nick Fury to destroy for a ruse on national television, people believed that Carnage had been defeated and New York prospered for a time in relief. However, Nick had warned her that any additional flare-ups, and he wouldn't be able to save her from Lex Luthor's polictical power. Having come to the Tower while lost in thought, she played with Rose was sick to try and ease her mind. Zachary offered that they go out there and fight crime, so as to improve Lauren's face image before she would inevitably blow up again, to which she agreed. After preventing a senior from pressuring sex out of his younger girlfriend by picking up their car with them inside, she started to take to the idea of plain-clothed heroism. Lauren comes to the tower the next day to continue fighting to better her name. However, she aborts a mission where she is to play bait when she detects that her boyfriend is nearby. Rushing 400 feet away, she finds him interrogating a man in an alley who is grounded by electricity shaped as restraints. Lauren begins speaking to him, but something is bothering David, causing him to stomp on kill the man he took hostage, as well as hurt Lauren with a poor choice of words. Those words led to the Tragedy of W. 123rd Street. Tragedy Letting her symbiote come to the fore, Lauren began throwing cars and attacking everything within the reach of her tentacles as she went on a one-woman rampage up W. 123rd Street in Harlem, New York. The police arrived within two minutes, but Lauren had already injured over a hundred people. After webbing Rose Tyler to a wall, Zachary went to end Lauren's rampage in plainclothes. Zatanna Zatara had been visiting a friend in Harlem and heard the explosion of cars, so she arrived clumsily on the scene right as Zachary and Carnage began to fight. Their battle minimized the damage to the environment as they were focused on each other, giving Zatanna time to conjure a containment spell that spared any more lives from being lost. As the two rushed each other, David tackles both Zachary and Lauren out of the way of Zatanna's magic, before confronting her himself. When Lauren rose from the tackle, her mania had subsided. Seeing this, Zachary orchestrated a plan to talk David and Zatanna down. However when put into applications, this angered Lauren, nearly causing another flare-up. The police had been watching up until this point, to which the officers were conflicted about arresting any of them. They bided their time, covertly waiting for the military to arrive while giving the police captain's lead lieutenant time to memorize their faces with his eidetic memory. Zatanna confessed that she would only bring one of them in, should they ask. The captain said to let them go, being as they had no way to contain any of them. The heroes scattered, and Lauren and David made up after retreating back to his house. The Justice League were verbal in their disappointment with Zatanna, due to not having incarcerated any of the belligerents. All in all, 57 were confirmed dead and 137 were hospitalized for their injuries. Aftermath Waking up near the afternoon and alone, Lauren went to the Tower, seeking to find rapport with a teammate. A woman in a suit had been watching Lauren since her entrance. Having been mostly empty, Lauren soon leaves the tower, only to find the general population on the street staring at her. The Daily Bugle had posted the pictures of everyone involved in the Massacre on W. 123rd, and they recognized her. The woman that had been watching her from the Tower had followed her outside, approached Lauren and lifted her onto a nearby rooftop, away from the others on the street. She revealed herself to be Wonder Woman and announced she was here to free Lauren from her symbiote. Lauren could not outrun Wonder Woman, and was snagged by the Lasso of Truth. Lauren confessed that she would die if she were separated from the symbiote. As Wonder Woman moved to take her life, Black Adam interfered, giving Lauren the chance to escape back to David's house. The newspaper article led to Zachary's arrest due to fighting without a disguise. Being as he was the only one responsible for Rose at the time of his arrest, the daycare put Rose into foster care. The Justice League, now been thwarted twice, apologized for having doubted Zatanna, before formulating a plan with Mayor Luthor to capture the two remaining perpetrators. Response Having read the Daily Bugle reporting on Zachary's arrest, Lauren traveled carefully to the Telecommunications Tower to see if there was anyone who would accompany her on her way to free him from his cell, located somewhere in Ryker's Island Maximum Security Penitentiary. Agent Ward chooses to come with her, having returned from living on the open seas. Lauren crosses underneath the waters alongside the Francis Buono Bridge, while Agent Grant uses a personal teleportation device to get past the security measures of the island. Upon landing on shore, Lauren is spotted by a sniper from a guard tower. Despite being in civilian-wear, Lauren panics are runs towards the main gates, which are being guarded by men wielding laser rifles. The sniper had only fired one bullet at her before Lauren wormed through a ventilation grate, gaining access inside the building to meet up with Grant. The two walked past low-level criminals before reaching the high-security risks, meeting faces such as Electro, Blockbuster, Arclight, and even Magneto, who sat meditative and unrestrained in his plastic cell. Upon finding Zachary tied up in a flimsy concrete prison cell, red eyes glow from behind Lauren. It was a trap. Superman stepped out from the shadows behind her as Supergirl picked up the room that they were in from the outside (a containment box) and dumped it into the Phantom Zone, with Superman phasing out of the box before it passed into the dimension. Now stuck in an area that looked as if they were on a moon, the three were dependent on the actions of others to decide their fate. Time passed in slow motion there, before Electron (with the assistance of Raven) created a portal to rescue the three. Zachary chose to stay behind, to prove that he wasn't evading or above the law. Lasting Consequences This scenario proved to leave a lasting effect on many of the characters' stories. * This is the starting point for the main plotline in The Silver Angel:[[The Silver Angel - An Angel No Longer| An Angel No Longer]], in which Angel begins looking for her fragmented family. She is arrested by Luthor without incident. * Rose is placed into foster care upon Zachary's arrest, and both Zachary and Angel are removed from being Rose's legal guardians. * Lauren and David consummated after her escape from the Phantom Zone, resulting in her pregnancy with Aiden. This also results in the two being removed from the streets, as it was no longer safe outside. * Zachary is cleared of all charges after a two-week court battle, but is forced to comply with the Metahuman Registration Act. During the trials, he tried to gain leverage for metahuman rights. Also, his secret identity is all but revealed. Though he and most of the villains familiar with Spiderman deny it, the general public takes it at face value. * Tony Stark is seen as having been harboring bio-terrorists in his Telecommunications building. His PR team successfully averts these claims, but this helps Tony redouble his security measures as he now works against Mayor Luthor in keeping the inhabitants of the tower safe. Part II Part II takes place eight months after Lauren's conception. Zachary is fighting a losing battle for the basic civil rights of metahumans, and Rose is still missing. Angel is still in prison for her destruction in Carnegie Hall, and David is still pursuing Norman Osborne across the continent. Main Characters * David Mercer * Lauren Evans * Zachary Stone * Angel Averly * Peter Parker Category:Comic Book Issues Category:Crossovers Synopsis Lauren returns to the Stark telecommunications building, being as it was one of the few places she could go without hiding her identity. Tony is there, and he banters with her for a bit before handing her a dossier that would be of interest to Electron. Zachary comes in shortly thereafter, needing to talk to her alone. He and Tony are civilly antagonistic to one another before Lauren leads the way to the roof. Out of options, Zachary asks Lauren for all of the help that he can get to show how fragile the balance between good and evil is, once you've begun alienating those who fight for good. To this end, they would brink civilization to the brink of defeat, despite opposition from the Justice League and the Fantastic Four. She accepts without hesitation, and they schedule to meet again tomorrow, though this time with David. After being told of Kryptonite, Lauren tells David and they set out and steal several samples of it [green, black]. Then they meet Zachary on a rooftop and discuss the plan. He wants to take down the psionic myth in the Watchtower and short the power to all of North America (save for the hospitals), to show that it doesn't take very many villains to tip the balance of power and life. Upon agreeing to this course of action, Daredevil comes to their rooftop, detailing the legalities and the long-lasting repercussions of this plan. Now without a plan, the three refer to the legal counsel of Daredevil's trusted associates, to try and earn amnesty for the actions of Lauren's earlier rampage. Build Up Lauren meets with Daredevil's trusted legal advisor Matt Murdock, who is revealed to be Lauren's adopted father. He states that without any hard evidence, he cannot build a case against mayor Luthor. As the two talk, it is found that Lex has illegal storehouses of Kryptonite that are in violation of international law, though it is not enough evidence on its own. It is around this time that Angel is released from prison. When Lauren visits for the second time, she remembers to tell Matt about Tony's dossier, to which he asks for. Upon returning to Hell's Kitchen, she finds Zachary losing a battle on the rooftops to Spiderman. After interfering, Lauren is markedly more vulnerable when rehashing the details of her romantic history with Peter, which ended in him eloping with Mary Jane Watson while she was away, and getting married. She is dejected about how things ended and offers her body for him to attack instead. Being that Peter had not checked back in, the Fantastic Four's Susan Storm came out to assist him. Seeing both Zachary and Lauren, she encased them in forcefields for deportation, but is knocked out by Daredevil moments later. Now alone and outnumbered, Peter tried to run from the two superheroes before Lauren captures him and takes him to a warehouse by the piers. Tying him up, Lauren explains the brunt of Lex and Norman's plans. Once they finish explaining, they leave the warehouse and dispose of Peter by throwing him into the upper bay of New Jersey so that he can't follow them. Lex was soon found guilty of several crimes, the most notable being the misappropriation of municipal funds. Charges for mutant hate crimes and conspiracy to commit genocide were dropped, due to much of the information having been illegally obtained and due to Lex's masterful lawyers evading their ways through the legal loopholes, but Lex had now lost the support of the Justice League. Now that Lex was exposed on national television, Zach feared that the assault would be imminent. He visits Lauren and the subject of delivering her baby arises. He suggests that she have Nick Fury or one of his associates deliver her baby, arguing that it might be 'too personal' for David to comfortably allow, to which she takes him up on. Side I - Zach and Angel The next day, Angel leaves her homeless encampment at night to capture Peter Parker, finding out that it's the wrong Spiderman. Finding Zach (dressed as Shadowstrike) as he's about to bust a vicious gang assault, she uses her broken Spanish skills to find out the men are beating a pedophile to death. Convincing Zach to walk away, they return to his house and are soon after attacked. Angel singlehandedly defeats both cyborgs after much difficulty, realizing that they are human during the fight. She revives Zach, and they later meet with David and Lauren. After this, they begin receiving hints that Rose has been spotted in a southeast coastal farmer's market with a man that she thought was Zach. This continues as they follow the leads that Angel receives via email. Side II - Lauren and David As David comes home, the two talk in bed before sleep. The two travel to Western Europe as they follow the paper trail that Tony had left behind for them. Using his electric sense, he scans entire cities for underground power lines and soon after finds a huge draw of power underneath a dummy company used as a front for Oscorp. As the two discover the underground facility and make their way through Oscorp. security, they split up and Lauren confronts Golnar in a central reactor. Lauren's symbiote is clearly outmatched by Golnar's fire abilities, but David joins her with a sneak attack. The two fight Golnar as he voices his disgust with David and his plans to break Lauren in particular. Eventually, Golnar increases his power, burning Lauren non-critically and knocking David out with his bare hands. He leaves the reactor to prove that he could have killed them, letting the message sink home that they were outmatched. Knowing that they were outclassed, David makes his way to the Baxter Building. Not generally being liked by Ben, the two ruffle each other's feathers until David sees Ariel walk out of Johnny's room as he too comes out. As the two friends talk, Johnny admits that their costumes are produced by Reebok and that only Reed Richards could order more. Snagging Johnny's costume, David apologizes and tries to electroport out of the building. Being as Reed Richards had expected Electron to attack the Baxter Building during the aftermath of the Tragedy of W. 123rd, he had routed the path of least resistance into a stasis cell for containment. Reed, Sue, and Ben all scold him for trying to steal Johnny's uniform and tell him that registered superheroes could take care of his fire-resistant problem. David is evasive as to why he needs to take care of it, and implies that he and Johnny are great friends. then proves Reed's theory incomplete by electroporting outside of the building by non-electric cable means, but Reed had studied his face. Being as David had let on that he and Johnny were friends, they then begin to question him offscreen. Resolution As the saga came to a close, several falling consequences occurred: * Lex Luthor has been incarcerated and has lost the position of Mayor of New York. This reduces the anxiety that New Yorkers have gained about superheroes, but Electron and Carnage are still feared. * Lauren is last seen talking to Nick Fury about having her baby. It is presumed that she bears Aiden there. However, she has made a deal with the Director to find hard evidence that Norman's cybernetic humans will attack the city. This agreement has offered her some protection against law enforcement. * Electron's secret identity is known to the Fantastic Four, as well as his personal information. * Angel's fame has increased, giving her a near national public recognition. As a result, her request to find Rose has gained national media coverage and these tips help to find Rose's whereabouts. * The Justice League has now taken their sights off of the actors involved in the Tragedy of W. 123rd Street. That might change if they cannot prevent the cyborg invasion however. Category:Comic Book Issues Category:Crossovers